An Ineffectual Congress

Published: November 1, 2000

The 106th Congress, with little to show for its two years of existence, has all but vanished from public discourse. In past presidential campaigns, Congress has at least been an issue, if only as an object of revulsion, as Bill Clinton made the Gingrich Congress in 1996. But nobody, least of all the presidential candidates, is talking about this particular Congress, and the reason is plain. On almost every matter of importance -- gun control, patients' bill of rights, energy deregulation, Social Security -- Congress has done little or nothing, failing to produce a record worthy of either celebration or condemnation.

Nor has it been able to complete even the most basic business, the appropriations bills that keep the government functioning. Three have been vetoed, and two others have not even been sent to President Clinton for his signature. Absent a burst of statesmanship in the next few days, it is possible that Congress will have to come back after Election Day to complete work on the federal budget.

But if Congress has done a lousy job for the public at large, it is a doing a fabulous job of feathering its own nest and rewarding commercial interests and favored constituencies with last-minute legislative surprises that neither the public nor most members of Congress have digested. One big reason for Congress's failure to finish the appropriations bills is that it has been locked in all-day negotiating sessions with the White House, trying to preserve as many of these items as it can.

In some cases, Mr. Clinton has refused to accept legislation because it was missing something he very much wanted. For instance, he threatened to veto one spending bill because it did not contain a provision, supported by this page, granting limited amnesty for long-term illegal immigrants. But most of his energy has been spent beating back last-minute riders he does not like. At last count, there were well over 200 special-interest items ''in play.'' Originally they were attached to the Commerce-Justice-State spending bill. When the president threatened a veto, they jumped like fleas to the Labor-Health and Human Services bill.

Most of these items are garden-variety pork projects. But some involve real substance and bad policy. One egregious example is a bill that passed the Senate Agriculture Committee without hearings and never received a floor vote in either chamber. It would broadly prohibit states from using their authority to write food safety regulations stronger than those required by the federal government. This means that the states could no longer fill gaps left by the Food and Drug Administration.

As usual, some of the worst riders involve the environment. One would overturn a judge's ruling under the Endangered Species Act blocking trawl fishing along parts of the Alaska coastline inhabited by the endangered Steller sea lion. Another would restrict the Secretary of Interior's authority to ban snowmobiles from national parks. A third would underwrite what could be the last great Western water boondoggle -- the diversion of the free-flowing Animas River in southwestern Colorado to provide water for local governments that have so far demonstrated no need for it.

The Republicans believe that somehow they will profit from these confrontations. But Mr. Clinton has won these standoffs in the past, and there is no reason why he cannot do so now.